Turkey national football team director Fatih Terim has left his job, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said in a statement on Wednesday. Terim resigned upon a meeting with TFF officials in the TFF headquarters in Istanbul.
Shortly after, the TFF released a statement regarding Terim's departure, saying it was agreed upon that his departure would benefit both parties.
"For a while some issues not related to football put on agenda by the media and public opinion have come to a state that has led to a wearing down of Terim and the TFF administration. Both parties agree that it will be more convenient to part ways. We thank our coach, who has achieved unprecedented successes in both local and international competitions, and wish him happiness in his life."
Terim's third term with the national football team was plagued with mediocre results and conflicts with high-profile players.
He was recently involved in a fight with a restaurant owner, which was the final straw for Terim's term with the national football team.
Terim was seen in television footage fighting with a restaurant owner in Aegean coast resort town of Alaçatı. He and his sons-in-law left five men injured after the incident, Turkish media claimed. The brawl reportedly emanated from a business rivalry, as Terim's son-in-law owns a restaurant nearby.
Terim embarked on his managerial career at Ankaragücü in 1987 and went on to coach Göztepe. In 1990, he took charge over the Turkey U21 team winning the Mediterranean Games with the squad in 1993. Terim steered Turkey to their maiden UEFA European Championship appearance in 1996. From 1996 until 2000, Terim was in charge of Galatasaray, leading the club to a Super League victory in each of his four seasons with the club. In the 1999/2000 season he led the club to a glorious UEFA Cup victory against Arsenal in the final. In the 2000/01 season, Terim coached the Italian side Fiorentina and in 2001 he had a short coaching spell at AC Milan.
In 2002, Terim returned to Galatasaray until 2004. In 2005, he was appointed as head coach of Turkey and repeated the qualifying achievement during his second spell in charge as the side reached the semi-finals of UEFA EURO 2008, where they lost 3-2 to Germany. After he quit in 2009, Terim took charge over Galatasaray for a third time in 2011 and won the Super League championship in his last two seasons as well as reaching the quarter final in the UEFA Champions League in his last season.
Turkey failed to get past the group stage at Euro 2016 and are third in their 2018 Russia World Cup Group I qualifying standings, two points behind leaders Croatia and Iceland and level on 11 points with Ukraine after six matches.